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Hikers spot large fish kill at mouth of Spercheios River

Dozens of dead fish have been found floating at the mouth of Spercheios River, near the city of Lamia in central Greece, in what is believed to be the result of pollution from farm, urban and industrial waste.

The fish kill was first spotted on Friday by a group of hikers walking along the river bank.

“To our great surprise about 2 kilometers from the river mouth... we saw a large number of dead fish, 20 cm or bigger. Some of them were in a partially decomposed state and stank which means that this was not a recent disaster,” said Panayiotis Stamellos, one of the hikers.

Locals say that the river receives a large, though unspecified amount of urban waste, pesticides and fertilizers, as well as runoff from factories, mills and livestock farms.

Responding to complaints from citizen groups, local authorities have collected water samples from the river. Results are expected next week.